Pale Emblem

Chapter 30 The Gift of Mother Earth

Against the gravel-like wind and snow, the magic-printed leopard left a string of flower-like paw prints on the steep and barren snowfield.It has been wandering since being driven out of its territory by another, stronger leopard.The battle half a year ago made it lose its left eye, making predation more difficult.The weakened king of the forest is reduced to a desolate scavenger, even stealing the short-tailed jackal's prey to stay alive.

The cunning jackals finally realized the weakness of the former king, and they screamed with excitement, gathered their companions, and prepared to complete a feat of slaying the king.The one-eyed magic-printed leopard could no longer rely on its low roar to frighten its former subjects. Facing the siege of the jackals, it fought hard and killed a few wolves with its still sharp teeth, lost half of its tail, and was lucky enough to break through the encirclement. run away.

The bloodthirsty jackals chased all the way, driving the one-eyed and docked leopard all the way to the food-poor plateau.

The plateau covered with snow and ice all year round is blowing with blizzards that never stop. Here, the lonely wandering king learns to lower his arrogant head, curl his body and crawl forward in the snow.Weakness, hunger, cold, and incurable crippling cannot defeat the innate pride of the leopard, but death can.

It has not eaten for more than a month, and if no food is found, the desolate and unfamiliar plateau is where it will bury.

The magic-printed leopard was lying on the snow, raised its head, twitched its nose, and its keen sense of smell made it catch a familiar smell from the icy and biting wind and snow.

Fishy, ​​plump and fresh, it belongs to the taste of prey.It can even tell the type and quantity of its prey, and a large herd of live and healthy sheep is in the direction the wind blows.

The magic leopard did not know why a flock of sheep appeared on the snowy plateau, but the desire to hunt and eat urged it to search in the direction of the blizzard.

It crossed valleys and climbed precipitous peaks, almost exhausted, its scarred fur no longer able to withstand the cold.If this hunt fails, it can only usher in the end of death.

However, the smell of the flock was so strong that the magic-printed leopard, with its strong hunting instinct, circled around a raised rock, and immediately saw a flock of sheep on the hillside opposite the cliff with sharp hooves. The snow on the rocks gnaws at the moss below.

These sheep are fat and sluggish, surprisingly low in alertness, burying their heads in the moss under the snow, unaware that a terrifying predator is not far away, drooling over them.

The magic-striped leopard can only drool when facing the prey that is close at hand.Below it is a cliff more than 100 meters high, and the treacherous terrain separates it from groups of prey.

Just as the magic-printed leopard hesitated, the sturdy head sheep discovered it.The bright blue patterns on the fur of the magic leopard make it dazzling like a flame in the world of ice and snow.

The head sheep tapped the rock with its hoof to warn the flock.The big and small sheep ran into the distance in a panic, watching the prey run farther and farther, the magic leopard sat on the rock wall in despair, and the cold wind made the desolate king tremble all over his body.

The head sheep didn't even walk, it jumped quickly to the highest point of the hillside, and at the closest distance to the magic-printed leopard, it raised its head and looked at it.

The head sheep's eyes are always dull and gentle as herbivores, but the magic leopard saw the challenge signal from the head sheep's eyes.

Challenged by prey?
The only remaining right eye of the magic leopard flashes fiercely. It has defeated countless challengers. Even if it is defeated by another younger and stronger magic leopard, the opponent only blinds one of its eyes. and the courage to perish with it; even if it is besieged by a pack of jackals and loses half of its tail, the bloodthirsty jackal will not dare to entangle it to the end.

The wind howled, the snow fluttered, and the beast and the prey stared at each other across the cliff.At this moment, the magic leopard understood the will of the head sheep.

In order to avoid predators, this sheep led the flock to the barren and harsh snow-covered plateau, and survived by relying on moss and ice and snow.However, a hungry leopard appeared in the flock's sanctuary.The head sheep will use its own flesh and blood as bait, and it will fight to death to eliminate this terrible natural enemy for the plateau sheep.

If you jump over it, you will fall off the cliff and shatter your bones; if you stay on the rock wall, you will starve to death in the wind and snow, turning into an ice-carved corpse.How to choose the magic leopard?
The magic leopard does not make choices, and does not need to make choices. The will obeys the hunting instinct, and the hunting instinct pushes the will to the peak.The severely overdrawn body burst out with a burst of power, the blood was burning, the life was burning, the soul was burning, and the blue lines on the broken fur lit up like a flame.

Its strong hind limbs exerted force and jumped out suddenly. Its smooth body was like a sharp arrow that pierced through the wind and snow, leaping over the cliff and abyss, and volleyed towards the head sheep standing on the opposite hillside.

For the first time in his life, the magic leopard jumped so far, as fast as a bolt of lightning.The head sheep didn't even have time to turn around and escape, and was bitten on the neck by it.

The huge inertia dragged the magic-printed leopard and the head sheep that was bitten by it, and rolled down the steep and precipitous hillside.The two animals were closely entangled, tumbling on the hillside, hitting hard rock walls heavily, and the gravel and snow fell with them, showing the majestic beauty of life.

They tumbled for hundreds of meters, and finally stopped on a large, gentle rock, where they were buried under the snow.But it didn't take long for the magic-printed leopard to get out of the snowdrift with the prey it had killed long ago, and fell on the ground and began to bite and swallow the delicious lamb.

Virtok woke up suddenly. He opened his eyes and saw the spire of the animal skin tent. Before he could think, he got out of the tent naked and rushed into the white rain.

The icy rain hit him mercilessly, flowing down the smooth skin. The biting chill made Vertok's mind gradually clear up. He raised his hands to observe carefully. claws.

The dream just now was too real, and Vertok couldn't tell whether he was a half-elf or the one-eyed magic-printed leopard.He clearly remembered his desperate and hearty leap to the top; he remembered the pain of hitting a rock and breaking his bones; he remembered the life-killing satisfaction of piercing the skull of a ram with his fangs; he remembered the warm, sweet flesh in his mouth Echoes the charming taste...

Vertok couldn't help chewing twice, the texture of the flesh and blood was still clear, he opened his mouth, spit out a piece of raw bloody flesh, and then froze.

Is that dream real?
Am I the Leopard, or is it Veltoc?

Could it be that I am the magic leopard becoming Vertoc?

Vertok frowned, his thoughts messed up in the violent freezing rain.Immediately afterwards, a heavy voice pulled him back from the delusion back to reality.

"you're awake?"

Vertok turned his head to look and saw a deer-headed man standing in the heavy rain behind him. After a closer look, he realized that it was a half-elf male in deer skin and a deer helmet.However, he was different from the half-elf that Veltok knew.He was tall and fit, with outstanding facial features, and a gray diamond-shaped crystal was embedded in the center of his forehead.

"who are you?"

"I'm Gangyan, the head of the Ta Cave Clan in Braun Town."

"who I am?"

"...you have to ask yourself."

"Where am I then?"

"In the tower cave, the camp of the Hemer tribe... the sub-elves in the town like to call this place the Temple of the Mother Earth."

Vertok looked around blankly and saw animal skin tents sitting in the open space, and many Hemer female warriors were watching him giggling.

"If you feel cold, we can go to the tent to talk." Gang Yan reminded.

Vertok noticed that he was not wearing a single piece of clothing, and Jun's face suddenly swelled red. He hurriedly covered his vitals and quickly got into the original animal skin tent.

He didn't feel cold, but he was embarrassed. He found a piece of animal skin in the tent to wrap himself up, and then asked Gang Yan, who followed up, "What's wrong with me?"

Gang Yan sat down cross-legged casually and asked, "Don't you remember at all?"

Vertok hadn't recovered from the impact of the previous dream, and especially wanted to find someone to talk to, and said raggedly: "I just spit out a piece of meat, and I dreamed that I had turned into a blue fur. Striped leopard, hunting goat in a snowstorm. I bite off a piece of meat from the goat, and I actually have a piece of raw meat in my mouth... It's so weird, I don't know what happened?"

Gang Yan looked at the excited Vertok in surprise, and said thoughtfully, "Are you sure you dreamed of turning into a leopard with blue stripes on its fur?"

Vertok nodded affirmatively.

Gangyan fell into a long silence, and only the sound of rain came into the animal skin tent.Just when Vertoc felt impatient, Gangyan finally spoke.

"The piece of meat you spit out is what I put in your mouth, while you were dormant... Your dormancy made Bartom think you were dying, and he sent someone to me to heal you. I found you in You can transform your life during hibernation, but you have insufficient life essence in your body. You need to sleep for several days and nights to complete the transformation. Originally, I didn't need to care about you, and you will wake up by yourself. However, I once promised Bartom that I would replace him Do one thing. Since he begged me to wake you up, of course I want to help you complete the transformation as soon as possible."

After speaking, he took off his deer helmet, revealing his long and pointed ears, and continued: "That piece of meat is the heart of a night saber. I hold a special ceremony to condense the most intense life essence and will of the night saber. In its heart, cut off a small piece of flesh and blood from its heart and put it in your mouth. This will allow you to absorb the life essence of that beast and speed up the transformation of life. Your dream is actually a night saber The deepest memory of the leopard, if you are favored by the mother earth, you will be lucky to awaken some qualities similar to the night saber."

"However, the night saber leopard has dark fur and is the killer of the night, not the same as you dream of the blue striped leopard. But this is not surprising, and there is no need to investigate the reason. Everything is a gift from Mother Earth to you, He is the great primordial, the source of all things in the world, the mother of all life. We don't need to speculate on the will of Mother Earth, and you don't need to panic about it."

Vertok finally breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "So, I didn't change from a magic leopard?"

Gang Yan shook his head with a smile, and said, "Vertoc, you are a very special sub-elf. You need to rest now, and seriously appreciate the gift given to you by the Mother Earth... Don't forget, don't be afraid, don't refuse."

(End of this chapter)